September 14-15, 2019 This is a short trip. This itinerary is better served in a week to 10 days. Perhaps this area can be added to a trip from here to The Great Sand Dunes, through the San Luis Valley into the Colorado Plateau and the Four Corners, a 3 or 4 week trip!
Cheyenne Wyoming to Comanche National Grasslands and Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site
5.5 hours 364 miles
Follow I-25 S, E-470 S and I-70 E to US-287 S/US-40 E in Lincoln County. Take exit 363 from I-70 E. 3 hours 200 miles
Follow US-287 S to E 6th Ave in Springfield 2.5 hours 163 miles
USDA National Forest Service - Comanche National Grasslands
Snow Goose Festival
Cheyenne Wyoming to Comanche National Grasslands and Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site
5.5 hours 364 miles
Follow I-25 S, E-470 S and I-70 E to US-287 S/US-40 E in Lincoln County. Take exit 363 from I-70 E. 3 hours 200 miles
Follow US-287 S to E 6th Ave in Springfield 2.5 hours 163 miles
USDA National Forest Service - Comanche National Grasslands
- The Grassland is a place of unequaled sunsets, golden prairies, fragrant juniper canyonlands, and extraordinary wildlife including rare species such as the Lesser Prairie Chicken, the Golden Eagle, and the Swift Fox and a wide variety of other animals, including pronghorn, coyotes, hawks, burrowing owls, wild turkeys, badgers, prairie dogs, turtles, roadrunners and collared lizards.
- There are Jurassic dinosaur tracks (150 million years ago), These Jurassic creatures walked along the shore of a shallow lake, leaving behind their footprints in the mud. Today, these footprints form one of the largest documented dinosaur trackways in North America, with over 1300 visible tracks.
- Ancient Rock Art from 1,500 years ago, images pecked or painted onto rock surfaces, held great significance for its creators. The oral traditions of many Native American groups tell of the spiritual power of the rock's surface. Rock art images may have been created to ensure a successful hunt or a year of plentiful food, in the canyonlands of the Comanche.
- The Santa Fe Trail (ca. 1821 and 1880) You can still travel sections of the Santa Fe Trail by foot or horseback.
- Homesteads of settlers in southeastern Colorado during the 1870s and 1880s.
- USFS National Grasslands
- Grassland History
- Frequently Asked Questions - Comanche
- Birding Checklist - Comanche
- Lesser Prairie Chicken Viewing - Comanche This area is closed until further notice. This bird is endangered.
- Wildlife Health Bulletins
- Ferruginous Hawk
- Recreation on the Comanche
- Heritage (.pdf)
- Paleontology (.pdf)
- Recreation (.pdf)
- Wildlife (.pdf)
- Vegetation (.pdf)
Snow Goose Festival
| 195_snowgoosefestival_brochure_2020_mkvi.pdf |
| 2020_event_registration_form_sgf.docx |
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/horrific-sand-creek-massacre-will-be-forgotten-no-more-180953403/?fbclid=IwAR0mXyQRqj6lAvspoeDqQXbU8ZOl9qUjJLq3b49tleXpmeR7oBjHDUwaKFc
The Sand Creek Massacre - 8 Hours that changed the Great Plains forever
The Sand Creek Massacre: profound, symbolic, spiritual, controversial, a site unlike any other in America. As 675 cavalrymen came around a prairie bend, the camps of Chiefs Black Kettle, White Antelope, and Left Hand lay in the valley before them. Chaotic, horrific, tumultuous, and bloody, the events of November 29, 1864 changed the course of history.
The Sand Creek Massacre: profound, symbolic, spiritual, controversial, a site unlike any other in America. As 675 cavalrymen came around a prairie bend, the camps of Chiefs Black Kettle, White Antelope, and Left Hand lay in the valley before them. Chaotic, horrific, tumultuous, and bloody, the events of November 29, 1864 changed the course of history.
George Bent
George's Father William Bent, was founder of the trading post named Bent's Fort. George's Mother was Owl Woman (Cheyenne Woman) who died giving birth to George. Owl Woman was the daughter of White Thunder who was the keeper of the sacred Medicine Arrows of the Southern Cheyenne.
SEE
Powell, "...Bent(s)," "White Thunder," and various in index.
Calloway, p. 26ff.
McLaughlin, p. 55ff.
Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site
George's Father William Bent, was founder of the trading post named Bent's Fort. George's Mother was Owl Woman (Cheyenne Woman) who died giving birth to George. Owl Woman was the daughter of White Thunder who was the keeper of the sacred Medicine Arrows of the Southern Cheyenne.
SEE
Powell, "...Bent(s)," "White Thunder," and various in index.
Calloway, p. 26ff.
McLaughlin, p. 55ff.
Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site
Wisdom Keepers and Sacred Places
References
Calloway, Colin G. (ed.) 2012. Ledger Narratives The Plains Indian Drawings of the Landsburg Collection at Dartmouth College.
Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
McLaughlin, Castle. 2013. A Lakota War Book The Pictographic "Autobiography of Half Moon." Cambridge: Peabody Museum
Press.
Powell, Peter J. 1969. Sweet Medicine - The Continuing Role of the Sacred Arrows, the Sun Dance, and the Sacred Buffalo Hat in
Northern Cheyenne History. Norman OK: University of Oklahoma Press.
Calloway, Colin G. (ed.) 2012. Ledger Narratives The Plains Indian Drawings of the Landsburg Collection at Dartmouth College.
Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
McLaughlin, Castle. 2013. A Lakota War Book The Pictographic "Autobiography of Half Moon." Cambridge: Peabody Museum
Press.
Powell, Peter J. 1969. Sweet Medicine - The Continuing Role of the Sacred Arrows, the Sun Dance, and the Sacred Buffalo Hat in
Northern Cheyenne History. Norman OK: University of Oklahoma Press.